The Trail Less Traveled

This episode in particular was recorded on a raft while floating down the Colorado River in the heart of Grand Canyon National Park. We attached our rafts together & captured the human history from rim to river in various sections of the river. Learn about Georgie White, the original river rat & woman who first started running the river commercially. Listen to stories about John Wesley Powell's expeditions in 1869 & 1871. Get the full story on the original river running badass, George Flavell and Ramon Montez who arrived in Needles in their handmade wooden boat in 1897. This episode features Glenn Goodrich, a man who has run over 450 rivers of the world since 1977. Glenn has been guiding since 1977 & when he is not guiding on the river... he is thoughtfully running rivers all over the world just for fun! Glenn has made multiple first descents around the world and doesn't have any plans for slowing down. Glenn's personal goal is to run 500 rivers before he retires. Hosted on Acast. See acast.co

Buffalo Child is a member of the North American Plains Cree Indian nation & speaks Cree fluently. Buffalo grew up in a mud/straw home & started riding horse at a young age. Buffalo Child is a professional stunt man & actor who has starred in: Dances with Wolves, Cowboys & Aliens, Crazy Horse, Call of the Wild & dozens of other movies & television series. Buffalo Child is also skilled in horsemanship, martial arts, boxing, canoeing, motorcycling, firearms, Hoop Dancing, singing & drumming. Buffalo is a keynote speaker, writer & educator who currently resides & rides horses on a ranch outside Sedona, Arizona. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded on horseback in the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. Clayton is a cowboy and wrangler for the K bar L Ranch (established in 1927) located where the North and South Fork of the Sun River meet. Clayton holds the microphone in the same hand holding the reins of his horse as the other holds a pack mule carrying fly fishing gear & cold beer. Clayton talks about why he is an advocate for bear spray, why it's important to spend time outside, why mules are amazing creatures & why he lives everyday to its fullest potential. Clayton was born blind and after four surgeries and daily eye drops and medication he can see again but doctors tell him that by the time he is in his 50s he will go blind. Clayton is a beautiful soul who encourages everyone to be kind to one another & never take vision or your health for granted. This is a great interview recorded on the back of a horse and in the tall grass on the edge of the river in the hear of the "Bob". Yeeehaw! Hosted on Acast. See acast.

This interview was recorded while floating down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park last summer. It was a challenge to edit due to extremely windy conditions, alas, attached you will find the final product ready to air. This episode features an interview with Christian Wright, a park ranger at Arches National Park in Utah. Christian helps visitors to Arches National Park embrace the difference between looking and seeing. Christian is also a historian with a focus on The United Mine Workers of America and the transformation of Utah's coal industry between 1966–1985. Christian wrote the book: For this Union to Survive, Miners for Democracy in Utah and the West. Christine asks the important question, "What does it mean to have no power and to fight for it?"Christian will also describe what it was like to do a solo inflatable kayak expedition of the Grand Canyon his first time running the Colorado River...  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information

This show was recorded on the veranda of a 130+ year old Victorian home near the salt marshes on the southern coast of Georgia. Featuring, Tim Keyes, an ornithologist and wildlife biologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Tim's focus is coastal non-game birds. Tim will elaborate deeply on how dinosaurs evolved into birds, physiological aspects of birds in terms of why they are able to fly & sometimes swim underwater. Tim talks about eggs & their various shapes and colors in terms of how they differ from species to species and why. In addition, Tim talks about bird's eye sight, feather makeup & we take an in depth look at massive migration and how birds are able to fly across oceans without stopping to destinations they have never been to before. Did you know that birds use celestial navigation? The knowledge embedded in this show will blow your mind.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andy was born and raised in Hamilton, MT and from a young age he would solo hike with his dog in the Bitterroots. Andy started rafting when he was 16 and guiding on the Middle Fork of the Salmon when he was 18. Andy has 12 seasons under his belt & now guides primarily on the Grand Canyon, Middle Fork of the Salmon and Selway. In the fall of 2017, Andy completed one and a half expeditions on the blue nile in Ethiopia. The Blue Nile is in its final stages of being fully dammed much like many of our beautiful free flowing rivers around the world. Therefore, Andy was one of the last river runners to experience the Class V+ whitewater and pre-dam ecosystems of the Blue Nile before it is flooded. Andy truly experienced the Blue Nile with everything from being chased by enormous man eating crocodiles to the water level raising 2-meters overnight & losing rafts only to find them completely looted downstream. Andy is an avid adventurer and one of the most humble humans you will ever meet. Andy is known by many

I invite you to listen to stories from our local living cowboy legend, Smoke Elser. Smoke has spent the past 56 years living in the Bob Marshall wilderness packing mules and horses. This unique interview was recorded in Smoke’s 113+ year old historic barn in the Rattlesnake wearing cowboy boots next to a crackling fire drinking muddy black coffee surrounded by thick snow & retired mules. This is a unique opportunity to pass down knowledge from a historic figure who arrived in Montana in 1955. Learn about the history of the Bob Marshall wilderness and some of Smoke’s favorite places to camp after exploring over 55,000 miles of trail within the Bob. Learn about the first man who developed a map of the roadless land in the United States. Smoke is now 84 years old and he is currently teaching his 56th annual mule packing course in his barn right here in Missoula. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded in Smoke Elser's 113 year old historic barn on the edge of the Rattlesnake Wilderness. Mandela sits next to a crackling fire with professional packer & saddle maker, Jordan Knudsen.After moving to Montana in 2001, Jordan Knudsen rapidly grew a passion for horses, mules and back country travel. After a few years of experience in self-taught techniques, he completed Smoke’s packing course in 2004. Since then, not only did Jordan take the time to become proficient in the techniques of decker packing, but he also took it upon himself to improve the equipment he was working with. In 2006 he started a business, now called Sun River Saddlery, that is devoted to building equipment that carries on the traditions of decker packing and back country travel.To date, Jordan also spends his fall season as a Licensed Backcountry Hunting Guide, contract packs through the summer season and enjoys as much personal and family time in the mountains as time allows.Jordan has bee

Live from India, Mandela interviews Saleem Ahmad, a local fisherman & artist, who will speak about the evolution of fishing in India, the pollution in the ocean due to nighttime dumping of waste by local hotels, the behavior of the Indian Ocean & the effect of tourism on the culture & ecosystem on the southwestern coast of India. When he's not on the water, Saleem creates artwork with coconuts on the spot where he was born & raised in a thatch hut on the beach...this spot is now covered in cement & surrounded by hotels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded in the bottom of The Grand Canyon with Dr. Laurie Crossey. Laurie is a professor of geochemistry at the University of New Mexico. Her interests are in interaction of rock, water, and organic materials: clastic diagenesis, aqueous geochemistry, and organic chemistry. Her recent research in the Grand Canyon and Rio Grande rift has involved the geochemistry of the present hydrologic systems, and their paleohydrology as recorded by travertines. She received her BA from Colorado College in 1977, her MA from Washington University in 1979, and her PhD from University of Wyoming in 1985. She has been at UNM since 1986. She is currently chairman of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UNM. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded on location at the bottom of The Grand Canyon with Dr. Karl Karlstrom, professor of Geology in the department of earth & planetary sciences at The Univeristy of New Mexico. Karl is a professional climber who has been working in the Grand Canyon for over three decades. Karl was directly involved with the creation of the Grand Canyon South Rim's "Trail of Time". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosco was on some days off with friends back in 1988 paddling down the Hollyford River into Lake McKerrow and out to Martins Bay with the plan of paddling along the coast on the Tasman Sea and into Milford Sound. After waiting for 2 days at Martins Bay for the 4 meter swell to ease it was an easy paddle down the coast and into Milford. The final 16km paddling all the way into the sound saw Rosco and his friends escorted by a pod of 30 bottlenose dolphins. It was a very “memorable” trip and one that planted the seed for setting up Milford’s first commercial sea kayaking operation.Today over two decades later Rosco has the longest serving owner operated sea kayaking business in New Zealand. With this wealth of experience and a small team of top class guides working alongside him Rosco continues to offer visitors to Milford Sound new and exciting sea kayaking adventures. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tipene goes by the name Stevo and works as a security guard at the Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand. Tipene is a Maori Irish man from the north western region of New Zealand’s North Island called, Wai kari mona. His Maori tribe are called “The people of the mist”. Tipene body is covered by Ta Moko traditional maori tattooing which resembles his fauno or family. The left side of his body represents his mother and the right side represents his father. Tipene is an artist, film maker and bush doctor who often makes medicine from plants gathered in the rainforest. Tipene’s newest film is a survival guide for living in the bush. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Within a day's drive of Missoula you will find some of the best iceclimbing... in the world,” says Missoula's legendary alpinist GrayThompson. Gray Thompson is a local legendary climber and UM GeologyProfessor Emeritus. Gray has been climbing since the mid 1960s andit's easier for him to think of the places he hasn't been rather thenthe places he has climbed. Gray has done more than a handful of firstascents on North Faces in the Canadian Rockies and worldwide including the Himalayas, Alps and Andes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jon Turk earned a Ph. D. in organic chemistry at the University of Colorado, in 1971. The same year, in honor of Earth Day 1, he co-authored the first environmental science textbook in the United States. Jon is the author of 25 text books and 4 adventure books. in addition to circumnavigating Ellesmere island, solo kayak missions in the Solomon islands, biking across Tibet to the birthplace of the Dalai Lama, multiple kayak expeditions from japan along eastern Siberia eventually walking across the Siberian tundra and so much more... for more information and to buy Jon's new book CROCODILES AND ICE visit jon turk dot com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded on moving ice while trekking the Franz Josef Glacier on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. Featuring the glaciology of New Zealand & The Himalayas with Franz Josef Glacier Guide, Ollie Clark. Originally from the UK, Ollie has been working as a glacier guide in NZ for the past three years. Ollie studies geology with a focus on glaciology."Heli-Hike" (Helicopter-Hike), Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An interview recorded in the vineyards & sheep stations of Central Otago on New Zealand’s South Island. Featuring two farmers, Di & Draft Somerville. Di & Draft are both native South Islanders who have a passion for growing grapes, olives, wool, mussels & vegetables. During this interview, recorded on their land, they share the art of making a fine Pinot Noir & incredibly soft, light weight, warm & fine Merino Wool in the glacier shaped landscape around Lake Wanaka. ​ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carl is a nature guide in Fiordland National Park who has been based in Queenstown for the past two decades. Carl is also a multi talented adventurer who loves snowboarding, sailing, kayaking & exploring everything his country has to offer with his closely knit tribe of fellow explorers. Carl has been featured on fly fishing T.V. programs & helped organize/manage the filming of all three Lord of the Rings & Hobbit films. Carl's ancestors have been in the mountains & forest of New Zealand for the past 10,000 years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded in Te Anau, the gateway to Fiordland under the shadow of the Southern Alps next to the largest lake in the southern hemisphere (by volume due to depth). Mandela interviews Lord of the Rings actor, storyteller, historian, musician, traveler & radio pioneer, Evan Campbell. Evan is a native South Islander who has been chasing summer for much of his life... living part of the time in New Zealand, Europe & the UK. Evan starred in the 2nd & 3rd movies of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He is proud of the fact that he didn't have to wear any makeup for his role in the two movies. Evan shares an in depth history of adventure tourism in New Zealand's South Island's west coast, particularly Fiordland & Te Anau. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded in a 70s series Land Cruiser while navigating the gnarly 4x4 track on top of Mount Prospect in the Southern Alps on New Zealand's South Island's West Coast. Mandela interviews Rosco Gaudin, the "Mayor of Milford" & self proclaimed "Motor Head". Rosco has had passion for adventure, motorcycles, off road vehicles & enduro racing since he was a small child. Today he builds his own Land Cruisers for multi-day off road racing in New Zealand. Rosco will tell us about (while driving) his dream rig, a 70s series Land Cruiser named "Homer", all the while navigating a burly 4x4 track. Later on he articulates the view of Fiordland from the summit of Mount Prospect. Rosco is also the owner and operator of "Roscos Milford Kayaks", New Zealand's most spectacular sea kayaking destination. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.